These were not the superstitions of the populace; the republic
supported six augurs charged with predicting the future. It carefully
preserved a collection of prophecies, the Sibylline Books. It had
sacred chickens guarded by priests. No public act--assembly, election,
deliberation--could be done without the taking of the auspices, that
is to say, observation of the flight of birds. In the year 195 it was
learned that lightning had struck a temple of Jupiter and that it had
hit a hair on the head of the statue of Hercules; a governor wrote
that a chicken with three feet had been hatched; the senate assembled
to discuss these portents.
=The Priests.=--The priest in Rome, as in Greece, is not charged with
the care of souls, he exists only for the service of the god. He
guards his temple, administers his property, and performs the
ceremonies in his honor. Thus the guild of the Salii (the leapers)
watches over a shield which fell from heaven, they said, and which
was adored as an idol; every year they perform a dance in arms, and
this is their sole function.
The augurs predict the future.
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